From: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org (jinglejangle-digest) To: jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Subject: jinglejangle-digest V4 #38 Reply-To: jinglejangle@smoe.org Sender: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk jinglejangle-digest Wednesday, March 14 2001 Volume 04 : Number 038 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [MLL] cambridge & austin ["Carsten Wohlfeld" ] [MLL] tonight's show in Boston/odd media appearance [Michael Zwirn Subject: [MLL] cambridge & austin On 13 Mar 01, at 4:20 mena wrote: > mary lou lord will be playing the middle east (upstairs) tomorrow night, i.e., tuesday the 13th, in cambridge, mass. she's scheduled to go on at 11:15. ... and i believe she will then head off to austin on the 15th for some late night busking on 6th street in front of the kinkos and maybe even more importantly, she may be selling the first copies of "live city sounds" as well. don't miss it, neil young may be there, too ;-) also, if you're in austin, make sure to catch "the other mary", mary lorson, playing with the willard grant conspiracy at austin's hole in the wall tonight (13th) and at the buffalo club on the 15th. i could use this opprtunity to plug my new madder rose / mary lorson site, currently at this temporary address: http://carstenwohlfeld.de/mr but i'd feel silly if i'd do so so i better not... punk rock. carsten - -- http://carstenwohlfeld.de "i don't know if you're beautiful / because i love you too much" (the magnetic fields) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2001 22:14:25 -0500 (EST) From: Michael Zwirn Subject: [MLL] tonight's show in Boston/odd media appearance Hope someone can fill us in on the show tonight here in Boston ... I would go, but I'm tired, it's late, I have a cold, etc. Anyway, the Tufts [University] Daily, a mediocre college newspaper, had an odd little article today about a student discovering music on the subway ... with Mary Lou as the featured topic of discussion. I will pass it along here, since you're not likely to see it anywhere else outside the university. Michael Zwirn - ----------------------- The sounds of the subway by Alison Damast Tufts Daily, March 13, 2001 It was like I was sitting in some tucked away, smoky jazz club straight out of the '40s. Was it the Cotton Club? The Vanguard? I sighed, leaned back into my seat, savoring the sound of the plaintive sax breathing new life into the Gershwin classic, "Summertime." I reached over for my martini, but found myself holding a diet raspberry Snapple instead. All of a sudden, I heard a rumbling in the distance. I opened my eyes and blinked a couple of times. There was a man in a plaid coat playing a much-worn, much-loved alto saxophone about two feet away from me. He was accompanied by a short, balding man plucking affectionately at his bass. They were standing next to the subway map. And all of a sudden, it hit me. I wasn't in Harlem. I was sitting at the Davis Square T station, waiting for the train to come so I could get to my internship. I was already bound to be about fifteen minutes late for work. "Let's play 'Take the A-Train,'" the sax player shouted to his partner as the wind from the approaching outbound train blew his hair in his face. The bass player slowly nodded his head and they broke out into the Ellington favorite. I tapped my feet along to the classic jazz standard and reached into my wallet for some dollar bills. I could have stayed there all day. I was hoping that the inbound train would be delayed, but sure enough, the train pulled up halfway into the tune. I dropped the dollar bills into the tin cookie can in front of them and reluctantly stepped onto the train, sad to leave them behind. One of the things that I have always found unique about Boston has been its street and subway musicians. They're pretty much everywhere you go... a part of the scenery. In fact, the subway feels strange to me when there's nothing but the chatter of fellow riders. The subway has the intimacy of a music club and you're always guaranteed the best seats in the house. Granted, those who play in the subways aren't always top-notch musicians. I'll never forget the time in my freshman year when I waited in the Davis Square T-stop for practically 20 minutes while listening to the lady I affectionately call "the faux opera singer." If there was one thing this lady lacked, it was a sense of pitch. Yet she stood there with her music books, singing her devout religious tunes like there was no tomorrow. After about five minutes of her caroling, I felt like I was going to lose it. The woman seemed oblivious to the rolling eyes of the passengers and was totally lost in her music. At least if we weren't getting some joy out of her singing, she was. The subway was the only place this woman could sing and be guaranteed an audience... no matter how reluctant it was. Of course, the subway is host to a variety of incredible and unique musicians. You never know when you'll find a hidden treasure underground. It often happens when you least expect it. A couple of months ago, I was coming home from the Dar Williams concert at the Orpheum. As I walked onto the Park Street T platform, I saw that a crowd was forming around the "act of the evening." I couldn't help but take a closer look. It was a tiny, blond girl with bangs, earnestly strumming out some simple tunes on her guitar. At first glance, she seemed just like any girl on a guitar. But after a few minutes of listening, her breathy, sweet voice and haunting, introspective lyrics drew me in. Everybody standing around seemed captivated by her presence. The train was approaching. I noticed that she had some CDs for sale for five bucks. I shuffled around in my purse, dug up five dollars, and placed it into her guitar case. I figured for five bucks, I really couldn't go very wrong. Turns out my five bucks were well spent. Her name was Mary Lou Lord. At first, I thought that she was just another unknown folk singer trying to make it in the underground. After listening to her CD about ten times (and loving it), I did a bit of research on the web about her. One of my friends said she thought she had heard of her in the underground folk scene. Turns out she had made her career as a street performer in Boston, having sung on the platforms of Park Street and the like for ten years. The subway was her home and she had sold more than 60,000 CDs while playing to harried commuters and pedestrians who took a moment out of their busy days to listen to her music. And just like me, they liked what they heard. Sometimes old ghosts resurface. A couple of years ago, I bought a CD in Harvard Square from an Incan group called Gitano. This CD - a spur of the moment purchase - became one of my beloved albums. I played it practically every night to lull me to sleep. I had always hoped I would run into Gitano again, but had no luck. I thought that perhaps they had given up the street-performing life or had moved. But the other day, as I was heading home from Park Street, I saw them. I couldn't believe my eyes. Once again, I found myself forking over money for their latest CD. I stayed at the subway stop for about 20 minutes just listening to them play. Mary Lou Lord wrote a tune that's a tribute to her career as a performer on the subway, appropriately titled, "Subway." "There's no sun and no starlight to shine on the rails/ The wheels of reality screech down the track," she sings. For me, these words capture the essence of what it means to be a subway performer. The street performer is the king of the underground. There is nothing from the outside to distract people, so they are naturally drawn to the hypnotic and soothing music. In a word, their music is real. One of the things that I find amazing is how many of these street performers are content with being just street performers. They don't necessarily want to be the next big act to hit the airwaves. And I believe that this is the reason so many of these artists endure. They are honest performers who play not just to make money, but because they love the intimacy the subway provides. Unbeknownst to many, there is a secret, devoted, core audience of subway performers. We're hardly a united group, because we never know when our favorite artists are going to appear. It's not like we can check on Ticketmaster for when they're going to be in town and what subway stop they're playing at. It's all a crapshoot, essentially. One day it may be Mary Lou Lord, the next day it might be that adorable banjo player with his tuba buddy. But that's part of the excitement. The only thing that saddens me is when the subway goes by and drowns out the singer or the musician. I can't help but wonder what I am missing at that moment. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Zwirn mzwirn01@tufts.edu ICQ #12755821 Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Medford MA - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ End of jinglejangle-digest V4 #38 *********************************